Christopher J. Preston, Assistant Professor
Philosophy
University of South Carolina
preston@sc.edu

Doug Williams, Professor
Marine Science and South Carolina Honors College
University of South Carolina
doug.williams@schc.sc.edu

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For the past four years, undergraduates from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina have run research trips on Winyah Bay to measure hydrological and biological characteristics from a shipboard laboratory (click here for more information).

The Winyah Bay estuary provides a unique opportunity for uniting the perspectives of the environmental sciences and the humanities. Competing claims surrounding the natural environment, economic development, tourism, aesthetics, and a rich cultural and historical legacy require careful adjudication. Our challenge is to use this environment and the existing MARE program to bring humanities students, faculty, and the local stakeholders into a dialogue about the environmental health of Winyah Bay. Winyah Bay is threatened by a legacy of dioxin from a major pulp mill, heavy metals from a steel mill, and land use changes in the upstream watershed that transcends state and political boundaries.

The New Directions MARE team is attempting to create a research-learning environment in which these students humanize their research by linking the scientific data they collect to the social, economic, and environmental conditions in the watershed that Winyah Bay drains. A number of local coastal communities have expressed an interest in knowing more about the water quality issues in the region, but have been frustrated by the technical and bureaucratic nature of the small amounts of information that they can access. This gap between dry scientific data on the one hand and the enormous social and ecological impact of environmental problems on the other is one that we think can be filled by those working across the disciplines.

To date the New Directions MARE team has had several joint excursions of the Winyah Bay environment and the start of an oral history project and a coastal art program. Several ND initiated courses will be offered this spring semester as part of an interdisciplinary semester on Sustainable Futures. We have also developed preliminary plans to work closely with the mayor and city planner of the town of Bluffton, SC, in an interdisciplinary, community-based environmental program focusing on the environmental health of the May River.

"Humanizing Environmental Research on the South Carolina Coast" is a project designed to take an already successful undergraduate marine science research experience and broaden it in order to directly address environmental issues of interest to local communities.

March – May 2002:

1st Shipboard Environmental Science Research Trip (April 5-7th).

Webpage on “Humanizing Environmental Research” added to M.A.R.E. website (http://schc.sc.edu/MARE/mare.html).

August – December 2002:

2nd Shipboard Environmental Science Research Trip (November).

New Course Offered. SCCC 387E. “Tradition versus Transition – American Attitudes and Environmental Policy.” Doug Williams and Stephanie Ogburn (Senior Baccalaurus candidate) (Fall 2002).*

Educational Outreach Video and Brochure Production.

January – May 2003:

New Courses Scheduled for Spring 2003:*

1) SCCC/PHIL 2XXE. “Environmental Ethics and Ecological Citizenship.” Christopher Preston.
2) SCCC/MSCI 3XXE. “Sustainable Marine Resources.” Doug Williams.

Sustainability Semester offered by South Carolina Honors College.*

3rd Shipboard Environmental Science Research Trip (February-March).

Interdisciplinarity and Environment Workshop at USC Columbia (February)

Begin presentations to town councils and citizens groups (Bluffton City Council, Georgetown Community Groups, Audubon Society, Sierra Club, South Carolina Coastal Conservation League)(March – May).

(* Indicates activity not directly funded by New Directions Initiative)

• Institutional barriers/thresholds
• Nearly non-existent environmental interest in the humanities on this campus
• Communicating goals to students
• Time management and overload for all stakeholders (especially students)